14 DAY TRIAL // It may not show up in iOS 8, but Apple is ready to make the big change for the Home screen. So ready that they have even filed a patent of invention for this new Intelligent Home screen.
The US Patent and Trademark Office has published the application filed by Apple. According to PatentlyApple, it doesn't really matter how you group and where you place your app icons. When you really need one, iOS will be smart enough to bring it to the home page for you.
Let's say you are in an airport or concert hall and you need the ticket for your next plane or the show you are about to watch. Sure, you could be using Spotlight to type a few letters, locate the app and then open it. But wouldn't it be easier to have the app icon jump to your first home screen right when you need it? Use it and then it will go back to its place.
Apple explains that smartphones have become smart enough so that they can assist the user in performing basic tasks and finding the info a user needs in the background. For example, the Passbook app is great when you need to have your plane ticket handy and you just don't want to carry a paper ticket. With Passbook, there's no need to pass a physical ticket. The bar code and info will show up on your smartphone's screen and that should be good enough for the gatekeeper.
Apple also makes the case of smartphones become cluttered with tens or even hundreds of apps. The space on each home screen is limited and when the user tries to sort the apps in folders, they get difficult to find. There is no way to make the apps smaller and that would not be practical, because the user cannot spot the icon right away if you reduce its size to have 50 or 100 apps on the same screen.
Using multiple home screens like iOS currently does is one way of organizing apps. However, when you've got six home screens filled with folders and groups, it gets frustrating to look for an app out of a few hundred. If the app is buried inside a folder, on the second screen of that group, you are not even able to see it at a glance. So the best way to look for an app is to use Spotlight or some kind of an app launcher.
Apple's new invention changes all of that by simply moving the app from any screen or folder to the home screen. The patent also describes a way for apps to send an Alias or Shortcut to the home screen leaving the app in its position.
Apple says that change can be triggered by location, the device's settings, the current date or day of the week and information pertaining to contacts or calendar events.
Apple admits this could be applied to future Macs as well. So it should work exactly like Handoff in OS X Yosemite will work.